R.C. Gorman

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Alternative Title:
Rudolph Carl Gorman

R.C. Gorman, American artist (born July 26, 1931, Chinle, Ariz.—died Nov. 3, 2005, Albuquerque, N.M.), was a celebrated Navajo artist whose graceful paintings, sculptures, and lithographs—many of them featuring Native American women—earned him an international reputation. Influenced by Mexican art, he produced works that were vivid in colour and fluid in style. In 1973 the Metropolitan Museum of Art included a number of his works in an exhibition on Native American art, and in 1986 Harvard University honoured Gorman for his “notable contributions to American art and Native American culture.” His admirers included Andy Warhol, who painted Gorman on several occasions and who was among the many celebrities who collected his art. Gorman was also the author of a series of popular cookbooks.